Thursday, 11 June 2015

5 Questions - The Gin Bothy

A few weekends ago, I was very kindly invited along to The Ideal Home Show Scotland by one of the event media partners. The event at the SECC was as big as ever with all manner of businesses exhibiting or demonstrating products designed to to make your home look better inside and out. In addition to this, there is the hugely popular Food Hall which is packed with tons of food and drink producers from all over the UK selling everything from cheese, olive, artisan bread, wine, chocolate, curry sauces and plenty more besides.

The show is a mix of producers who simply want to raise awareness of their product to the huge footfall that walks through the doors at the SECC, and those producers who are using the event as a springboard to launch a new product, or in some cases to help launch a new business. One of the first people that I managed to chat with was Kim Cameron Gall who only launched The Gin Bothy brand earlier this year. The Gin Bothy produce two amazing gins - a fresh tasting Raspberry Gin and a wonderfully flavoured Mulled Gin, as well as the most amazing by-product - Merry Berry jam. Always keen to help spread the word of independent producers, I had to ask Kim to answer 5 Questions.

Here's Kim's story;

How did you get started?

We make lots of jam in our wee Bothy and always had lots of juice left over. We started infusing gin with our juice and local berries the old fashioned way, just for ourselves. We stock a lot of Scottish gins in our farm shop so when word got out about our own gin that we were making next door in the bothy, people wanted to give it a try. The berries that are used to infuse our gin are then turned into our Merry Berry Jam (which we reckon is about 2% alcohol!) so there’s no wastage. We started with our Raspberry Gin and then wanted to try something a bit different and that’s where the Mulled Gin came about.

What's the best piece of business advice you could give?

Definitely get a good accountant! Or just build good relationships with ‘fixers’ & people that know their job. You would’t go to a butcher to get a haircut.

Where would you like to see your business in 5 years time?

Hopefully somewhere warm - the bothy is always cold!

If you could only use one of your own products, what would it be and why?

Our Infused Mulled Gin. It’s infused with cinnamon, nutmeg and clove and it means you can draw Christmas out all year! It’s the most versatile (you can drink it hot or cold, neat or topped up with ginger ale) and unique.

You can invite one person (living or dead) to your last meal – Who would it be and why? …and what’s on the menu?

We’d definitely have to stick to our roots and say Robert Burns. He was just so ahead of his time andcould help us write our own Bothy Ballad! As for dinner, what else but a traditional haggis needs & tatties? (& then obviously a couple of gins….)

I managed to sample each of the two gins as well as being given my very own jar of Merry Berry, and have to say that the quality of all three products was fantastic. I loved each of the gins but can definitely picture myself sipping on a warmed up glass of Mulled Gin on a cold winter evening. Although if I had to pick a favourite product from the range, it has to be the jam. Our jar didn't last very long at home as we served it on hot buttered scones and as a cheeky topping on a bowl of Ambrosia creamed rice - either way, it was delicious!

The Gin Bothy might only have a small line of products but when they taste as good as they do, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they see a Great Taste Award or two.